Near-field antenna for eyewear

ABSTRACT

Apparatuses and systems for wearable devices such as eyewear are described. According to one embodiment, the wearable device includes a frame, onboard electronics components, and an antenna disposed around an eyepiece area of the frame that is configured to hold an optical element. The antenna is configured for inductive coupling. In some embodiments, a switch coupled to the antenna allows selection between circuitry for inductive charging of a battery and near-field communication (NFC) circuitry for communicating data via the antenna.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The subject matter disclosed herein generally relates to eyewear, andmore specifically to electronics-enabled eyewear with near-fieldcommunication or inductive battery charging components.

BACKGROUND

Eyewear, especially those carrying onboard electronics, can be bulkywith significant size and weight tradeoffs associated withcommunication, battery, and charging systems, making them difficult towear and charge. These and other factors often causeelectronically-enabled eyewear to be unwieldy and less than desirable towear or transport.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure is illustrated by way of example, and not by wayof limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1A illustrates eyewear with electronics in accordance with someembodiments described herein.

FIG. 1B illustrates aspects of eyewear with electronics and a near-fieldantenna in accordance with some embodiments described herein.

FIG. 1C illustrates aspects of eyewear with electronics and a near-fieldantenna in accordance with some embodiments described herein.

FIG. 1D illustrates aspects of eyewear with electronics and a near-fieldantenna in accordance with some embodiments described herein.

FIG. 2 illustrates aspects of eyewear with electronics and a wirelessmodule with a near-field antenna in accordance with some embodimentsdescribed herein.

FIG. 3A is a front perspective view of a system including eyewear and acase as part of a system for near-field communications or wirelessinductive charging in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 3B illustrates aspects of a system including eyewear and a case aspart of a system for near-field communications in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 3C illustrates aspects of a system including eyewear and a case aspart of a system for inductive charging in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 4A is a top view of a right temple and half of a frame of eyewear,along with a hinge joint for electronic coupling of the frame and thetemple, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 4B is a top view of a right temple and half of a frame of eyewear,along with a hinge joint for electronic coupling of the frame and thetemple, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a softwarearchitecture that may be installed on a machine according to someexample embodiments.

FIG. 6 illustrates a diagrammatic representation of a machine in theform of a computer system within which a set of instructions may beexecuted for causing the machine to perform any one or more of themethodologies discussed herein, according to some example embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The subject matter disclosed herein generally relates to eyewear, andmore specifically to electronics-enabled eyewear with near-fieldcommunication or inductive battery charging components.

One aspect of this disclosure is an eyewear article with onboardelectronics configured with an antenna for near-field communication(NFC) and/or wireless inductive charging. Such eyewear may include oneor more cameras, indicator lights, memory, control circuitry, batteryelements, and wireless communication circuitry in addition to the NFCand/or wireless charging circuitry that uses the near-field antenna. Inorder to efficiently use the space available within or on the surface ofthe glasses, the near-field antenna is positioned around a lens area ofthe frame. Because of the loop structure of the near-field antenna, theplacement of the antenna loop(s) of the near-field antenna around thelens or eyepiece structure of the eyeglasses frame makes efficient useof the available space. Additionally, placement of an antenna on or neara surface of glasses around a lens area positions the antenna wherecircuitry or other material is not present to block the radiation forthe antenna. Further, while various embodiments include the antenna fornear NFC and wireless charging, the same antenna structure mayadditionally be used for RF communications, such as wireless networkcommunications (e.g. WiFi or WLAN), or global positioning system (GPS)communications.

Switching circuitry present in some embodiments enables differentcircuitry for NFC and wireless inductive charging to be coupled to thenear-field antenna around the lens area. In some such embodiments, thisswitching circuitry is part of a hinge structure connecting the eyeweartemple with the eyewear frame that includes the lens area and thesurrounding near-field antenna.

In some embodiments, eyeglasses may include near-field antennastructures around either or both lens areas in the frame, and circuitryfor various functions of the eyeglasses may be embedded in the frame orin either temple of the eyeglasses. Such additional functionality mayinclude any combination of image capture, display presentation via ascreen or display integrated with the eyeglasses, wirelesscommunications via wireless local area network or Bluetooth™communications, NFC communications, wireless inductive battery charging,or any other such functions described herein.

NFC communications and wireless charging are, in some embodiments,particularly designed as part of a system including a case with amatching near-field antenna. In various embodiments, the case isstructured to position the glasses to enable NFC data transfer orwireless charging while the eyeglasses are within an eyeglasses case bymatching the position of the near-field antenna in the eyewear with acorresponding near-field antenna within the eyeglasses case.

FIG. 1A illustrates eyewear with electronics in accordance with someembodiments described herein. The figure includes a front perspectiveview of glasses 31 which, in accordance with this example embodiment,includes various electronic circuit elements. Additionally, at least onearea of glasses 31 around one of the eyepiece areas is used for anear-field antenna. In FIG. 1A, a first area 29 around lens area 43 isused for a near-field antenna. In various embodiments, the near-fieldantenna in first area 29 may be an antenna on the surface of the glasses31, or may be embedded inside the frame 32 of glasses 31. In otherembodiments, the antenna may be disposed around the other lens area 44(e.g., around the left eye opening instead of the right eye opening) orglasses 31 may include antenna elements around both lens areas 43, 44(e.g., both the left and right eye openings) in some embodiments. Insome embodiments, a single lens area or visor area is present in placeof separate lens areas for a left and right eye. In such embodiments, anear-field antenna may surround the single lens or visor area. Invarious embodiments, an antenna in first area 29 may be used for NFCcommunications or in transferring image data from a camera 69 includedin glasses 31. In other embodiments, a near-field antenna in first area29 may be used to receive a charge via inductive wireless charging froma charge source. In some embodiments, both NFC communications andwireless inductive charging are supported. Additional aspects ofwireless antennas and various communication and wireless chargingelements are described below.

The glasses 31 can include a frame 32 made from any suitable materialsuch as plastic or metal, including any suitable shape of memory alloy.The frame 32 can have a front piece 33 that can include a first or leftlens, display, or optical element holder 36 and a second or right lens,display, or optical element holder 37 connected by a bridge 38. Thefront piece 33 additionally includes a left end portion 41 and a rightend portion 42. A first or left optical element in lens area 43 and asecond or right optical element in lens area 44 can be provided withinrespective left and right optical element holders 36, 37. Each of theoptical elements in lens areas 43, 44 can be a lens, a display, adisplay assembly, or a combination of the foregoing. As described above,a near-field antenna may be placed on the surface of any such elementsor within the frame 32 using pieces molded to include an antenna on theinside, or any other such structure for disposing a near-field antennaaround a lens area. In some embodiments, for example, the glasses 31 areprovided with an integrated near-eye display mechanism that enables, forexample, display to the user of preview images for visual media capturedby cameras 69 of the glasses 31.

Frame 32 additionally includes a left arm or temple piece 46 and asecond arm or temple piece 47 coupled to the respective left and rightend portions 41, 42 of the front piece 33 by any suitable means such asa hinge (not shown), so as to be coupled to the front piece 33, orrigidly or fixably secured to the front piece 33 so as to be integralwith the front piece 33. Each of the temple pieces 46 and 47 can includea first portion 51 that is coupled to the respective end portion 41 or42 of the front piece 33 and any suitable second portion 52, such ascurved or arcuate piece, for coupling to the ear of the user. In oneembodiment the front piece 33 can be formed from a single piece ofmaterial, so as to have a unitary or integral construction. In oneembodiment, such as illustrated in FIG. 1A, the entire frame 32 can beformed from a single piece of material so as to have a unitary orintegral construction.

Glasses 31 can include a computing device, such as electronic components61, which can be of any suitable type so as to be carried by the frame32 and, in one embodiment of a suitable size and shape, so as to be atleast partially disposed in one of the temple pieces 46 and 47. In oneembodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 1A, the electronic components 61 issized and shaped similar to the size and shape of one of the templepieces 46, 47 and is thus disposed almost entirely if not entirelywithin the structure and confines of such temple pieces 46 and 47. Inone embodiment, the electronic components 61 can be disposed in both ofthe temple pieces 46, 47. The electronic components 61 can include oneor more processors with memory, wireless communication circuitry, and apower source. The electronic components 61 comprises low-powercircuitry, high-speed circuitry, and a display processor. Various otherembodiments may include these elements in different configurations orintegrated together in different ways. Additional details of aspects ofelectronic components 61 may be implemented as described with referenceto the description that follows.

The electronic components 61 additionally includes a battery 62 or othersuitable portable power supply. In one embodiment, the battery 62 isdisposed in one of the temple pieces 46 or 47. In the glasses 31 shownin FIG. 1A, the battery 62 is shown as being disposed in left templepiece 46 and electrically coupled using connection 74 to the remainderof the electronic components 61 disposed in the right temple piece 47.The one or more input and output devices can include a connector or port(not shown) suitable for charging a battery 62 accessible from theoutside of frame 32, a wireless receiver, transmitter or transceiver(not shown), or a combination of such devices.

Glasses 31 include digital cameras 69. Although two cameras 69 aredepicted, other embodiments contemplate the use of a single oradditional (i.e., more than two) cameras. For ease of description,various features relating to the cameras 69 will further be describedwith reference to only a single camera 69, but it will be appreciatedthat these features can apply, in suitable embodiments, to both cameras69.

In various embodiments, glasses 31 may include any number of inputsensors or peripheral devices in addition to cameras 69. Front piece 33is provided with an outward facing, forward-facing, or front or outersurface 66 that faces forward or away from the user when the glasses 31are mounted on the face of the user, and an opposite inward-facing,rearward-facing or rear or inner surface 67 that faces the face of theuser when the glasses 31 are mounted on the face of the user. Suchsensors can include inwardly-facing video sensors or digital imagingmodules such as cameras that can be mounted on or provided within theinner surface 67 of the front piece 33 or elsewhere on the frame 32 soas to be facing the user, and outwardly-facing video sensors or digitalimaging modules such as the cameras 69 that can be mounted on orprovided with the outer surface 66 of the front piece 33 or elsewhere onthe frame 32 so as to be facing away from the user. Such sensors,peripheral devices, or peripherals can additionally include biometricsensors, location sensors, accelerometers, or any other such sensors.

The glasses 31 further include an example embodiment of a camera controlmechanism or user input mechanism comprising a camera control buttonmounted on the frame 32 for haptic or manual engagement by the user. Thecontrol button provides a bi-modal or single-action mechanism in that itis disposable by the user between only two conditions, namely an engagedcondition and a disengaged condition. In this example embodiment, thecontrol button is a pushbutton that is by default in the disengagedcondition, being depressable by the user to dispose it to the engagedcondition. Upon release of the depressed control button, itautomatically returns to the disengaged condition.

In other embodiments, the single-action input mechanism can instead beprovided by, for example, a touch button comprising a capacitive sensormounted on the frame 32 adjacent its surface for detecting the presenceof a user's finger, to dispose the touch-sensitive button to the engagedcondition when the user touches a finger to the corresponding spot onthe outer surface of the frame 32. It will be appreciated that theabove-described push button and capacitive touch button are but twoexamples of a haptic input mechanism for single-action control of thecamera 69, and that other embodiments may employ different single-actionhaptic control arrangements.

FIG. 1B illustrates aspects of eyewear with electronics and a near-fieldantenna in accordance with some embodiments described herein. FIG. 1Billustrates one implementation of glasses 31 with an antenna 5 that isimplemented in first area 29, with the antenna 5 encircling lens area43. Antenna 5 is shown as a circular antenna, but in various embodimentsmay be an acceptable shape for near-field communication or wirelesscharging, and the illustration is shown to generally present the antenna5 around lens area 43, but does not represent a specific electroniccomponent layout. Antenna 5 is electrically connected to electroniccomponents 61 by frame electrical connection 4, hinge electricalconnection 3, and temple electrical connection 2. In variousembodiments, these connections may consist of simple conductive lines orwires attached to or embedded within the various portions of the glasses31. In other embodiments, these may include more complicated structures,such as matching networks, control and/or frequency conversioncircuitry, or any other such components to enable the use of antenna 5.

FIG. 1C illustrates additional aspects of eyewear with electronics and anear-field antenna in accordance with some embodiments described herein.As mentioned above, glasses 31 includes an antenna 6 within first area29, and various antenna designs may be used in differentimplementations. Antenna 5 of FIG. 1B illustrates a circular single loopantenna. Antenna 6 of FIG. 1C illustrates an antenna with linearelements connected in a multi-turn spiral. Just as with antenna 5,antenna 6 surrounds lens area 43, and is connected to electroniccomponents 61 via frame electrical connection 4, hinge electricalconnection 3, and temple electrical connection 2. Antenna 6 includesmultiple spiral loops, including a first loop 7A and a second loop 7B.In various other embodiments, antennas with any number of loops may beused based on the width and shape of the conductive antenna lines andthe space available in or on the particular surface of the frame 32 ofglasses 31. Antenna 6 may operate with multiple loops by havingdifferent sections of antenna 6 on different layers or sides of glasses31, such that one portion of antenna 6 may cross under another portionto connect both ends of the loop to frame electrical connection 4.

FIG. 1D illustrates aspects of eyewear with electronics and a near-fieldantenna in accordance with some embodiments described herein. Glasses 31of FIG. 1D illustrate an additional implementation with an antenna usedfor both NFC and wireless charging. While NFC and wireless charging may,in some embodiments such as the one illustrated by FIG. 1D, use the sameantenna, certain match and controller circuitry may be different In FIG.1D, switch 11 is used to connect different components for differentoperations to antenna 5, which is an antenna structured around the lensarea 43, as detailed above. Electronic components 61 may, in someembodiments, include one or more processors with control circuitry thatelectronically manage switch 11 and the scheduling and operation of theseparate NFC and wireless charging components. In other embodiments, aninput such as a button or physical switch may control the electronicswitch 11 to determine which components are directly connected toantenna 5. In some such embodiments, the use of different contacts in ahinge as part of hinge electrical connection 3 may be used to selectbetween NFC match and controller circuitry 8 and wireless charging matchand controller circuitry 9, such as the connections described below withrespect to FIGS. 4A and 4B.

For NFC operations, NFC match and controller circuitry 8 is connected toantenna 5 via switch 11 and wireless charging match and controllercircuitry 9 is disconnected from antenna 5. For wireless chargingoperations, wireless charging match and controller circuitry 9 isconnected to antenna 5 via switch 11, and NFC match and controllercircuitry 8 is disconnected from antenna 5. Separate matching circuitsare used due to the different frequency and power requirements of thedifferent NFC and wireless charging functions. In certain embodiments,these operational details are defined by standards and regulations. Forexample, NFC technology may be based on operations defined byinternational standards organization standard 14443 to facilitateinteroperability. Additionally, the data functions implemented using NFCalso may use significantly different processing operations than thewireless charging functions. Payments using NFC technology, for example,may use specialized controller circuitry to implement details of securepayments as part of technologies like Apple Pay™ and Android Pay™. Theseand other technologies supported within controller circuitry attached toan antenna enable use of corresponding payment terminals in conjunctionwith implementations of glasses 31 that include support for NFC payment.

While the embodiment of FIG. 1D uses a switch 11 to isolate antenna 5from the different circuitry implementing different operations using theantenna 5, in other embodiments, separate antenna and circuitry may beprovided for each function. For example, in an alternate embodiment, onelens area may be surrounded by a first antenna connected to NFC matchand controller circuitry 8 and a second lens area may be surrounded by asecond antenna separately connected to wireless charging match andcontroller circuitry 9.

Additionally, while particular antenna structures are descrbed above andthroughout this document, additional structures configured to implementthe functions described herein may also be used. Some such antennastructures compatible with the eyewear described herein may, in additionto operating for NFC and wireless charging, be used for higher frequencyor radio frequency (RF) communications such as WiFi or GPScommunications. Some such devices may include a diplexer or other suchmultiplexer to electrically separate the various communication systems,and to enable the antenna to function for multiple differentcommunication operations including NFC and RF communications.

FIG. 2 illustrates aspects of eyewear with electronics and a wirelessmodule with a near-field antenna in accordance with some embodimentsdescribed herein.

FIG. 2 is a schematic of glasses 110 that incorporate various aspects ofthe eyewear previously discussed but may differ therefrom. In someembodiments, glasses 110 may be an embodiment of glasses 31. The glasses110 can be configured to electrically couple in a first position and asecond position as a hinge connecting a temple and frame is adjusted.The glasses 110 can be constructed in a manner similar to glassespreviously discussed, and thus can include two temples (only one temple114 is illustrated in FIG. 2) and a frame 112. According to theembodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, the glasses 110 comprise smart glasseswhich carry electronics 150. Electronics 150 includes multiple elements,including at least a battery 128 and a wireless module 164 that includesa near-field antenna such as antenna 5 or antenna 6 discussed above, aswell as any match and controller circuitry (e.g., NFC match andcontroller circuitry 8) for the supported wireless operations. Computer152 includes one or more processors that manage the wireless operationsas well as other functions of glasses 110 such as image capture using acamera/microphone 160, or other functions. In various other embodiments,different combinations of operations involving different outputelements, sensors elements, and any other such element may be presentand controlled by one or more processors of a computer 152.

The frame 112 and temple 114 can be provided with complimentaryconnectors 120A, 120B, 122A, 122B configured to electrically andphysically couple with one another as generally illustrated. Theconnectors 120A, 120B, 122A, 122B can be disposed adjacent the hingejoint assembly or can be incorporated into the hinge joint assembly. Insome cases, the connectors 120A, 120B, 122A, 122B can be disposed atother portions of the frame 112 and temple 114 from the locationspreviously discussed with reference to FIGS. 1A-1D.

The smart glasses 110 of FIG. 2 can include various electronics 150. Forexample, the temple 114 can be configured to carry and/or house abattery 128 and a circuit 130, such as a protection circuit, in additionto the connectors 120B and 122B. The battery 128 is configured tooperationally store charge. The circuit 130 is coupled to the battery128 (and to the connectors 120B and 122B) and is configured to deliverthe charge to and from the battery 128.

The frame 112 can be configured to carry and/or house furtherelectronics 150 such as a computer 152, a memory 154 (e.g., flashstorage), a display 156 (e.g., LCD, LED, and the like), a sensor 158, acamera/microphone 160, a capture device 162 (e.g., a button), and awireless module 164. Although not illustrated, the temple 114 and/orframe 112 can carry further electronics 150 in some instances such asfurther sensors, ancillary batteries, peripheral devices, or otherperipherals.

Many if not all of the electronics 150 run software and perform othertasks that require electrical charge from the battery 128. Thus, theability to provide charge from the battery 128 to the electronics 150carried by the frame 112 when the glasses 110 are in the folded position(in addition to the wearable position) allows software and/or tasks tobe performed even when the glasses 110 are stowed. Therefore,performance of the glasses 110 and user experience can be improved assoftware can run and tasks can be performed even when the glasses 110are stowed. According to some examples, moving the temple 114 to thefolded position can put the electronics 150 in a low power mode ofoperation where sufficient power is provided to the electronics 150 suchthat software and other tasks can be performed by one or more of theelectronic devices, but excessive power is not utilized. Thus, batterylife can be preserved even as software and tasks are performed when theglasses 110 are in the folded position.

In other embodiments, different circuitry can be connected depending onthe position of a hinge. For example, a connector 122B may connect toNFC match and controller circuitry while connector 120B connects towireless charging match and control circuitry and an associated battery128 to be charged. In other embodiments, combinations of mechanicalconnectors and electronic switches may be used to connect differentcircuitry to a near-field antenna within wireless module 164. In suchembodiments, different placement of processors/computer 152 and wirelessmodule 164 may be used, with switches and connectors between thedifferent battery 128, processor/computer 152, and wireless module 164elements.

As shown in FIG. 2 the connectors 120A, 120B and 122A, 122B,respectively are adapted to interface and couple together to formconductive coupling mechanism 118 capable of passing electrical charge.The computer 152 can be of any suitable type (e.g., make use of alow-power circuitry, high-speed circuitry, and/or a display processor)to be carried by the frame 112 and can communicate with the otherelectronics 150. The computer 152 can include one or more processorswith memory, wireless communication modules and circuitry, a powersource, and the like. Additional details of aspects of computer 152 maybe implemented with use of the display 156, the sensor 158, thecamera/microphone 160, the capture device 162 (e.g., a button), and/orother components or peripherals. Further aspects of the computer 152 maybe implemented remotely via wireless, Bluetooth, or the like.

Although described as a signal unit, the camera/microphone 160 cancomprise separate components or can be only a camera or only amicrophone. The camera/microphone 160 can comprise multiple camerasand/or multiple microphones in some instances. The computer 110 can beconfigured to communicate with and/or control various of the electronics150 such as the display 156, the sensors 158, the capture device 162,the wireless module 164 and/or other peripheral devices. The electronics150 can additionally include a video processor (not shown) such as amicroprocessor integrated circuit (IC) customized for processing sensordata from the camera/microphone 160, along with volatile memory used bythe microprocessor to operate. The memory 154 can comprise any suitablestorage device capable of storing data generated by the electronics 150including the camera/microphone 160. Memory 154 can be integrated withhigh-speed circuitry, can be an independent standalone element, or canbe remote or integrated into the glasses 110.

FIG. 3A is a front perspective view of a system including eyewear and acase as part of a system for near-field communications or wirelessinductive charging in accordance with some embodiments. FIG. 3Billustrates aspects of a system including eyewear and a case as part ofa system for near-field communications in accordance with someembodiments. FIG. 3C illustrates aspects of a system including eyewearand a case as part of a system for near-field charging in accordancewith some embodiments. As detailed above, NFC and wireless chargingoperations use different circuitry to implement the correspondingfunctionality. As part of the operation using a near-field antenna oneyeglasses in accordance with embodiments described herein, anotherantenna is used with the antenna on the glasses.

NFC and wireless charging as described herein both work using magneticinduction. For NFC, the process works as shown in FIG. 3B. For wirelesscharging, the process works as shown in FIG. 3C. In the NFC embodimentof FIG. 3B, glasses 331 containing processing circuitry 350 or anotherdevice containing processing circuitry 360 operates as areader/interrogator that sends a small electric current on acorresponding loop antenna 355 or 365. This in turn creates a magneticfield. That field is received by the other antenna in the pair, where itis turned back into electrical impulses. This process is used tocommunicate data such as identification number status information or anyother information. NFC controller circuitry 362, 352 may implementspecific communication protocols and drive the corresponding antenna355, 365 appropriately. So-called ‘passive’ NFC tags use the energy fromthe reader to encode their response while ‘active’ or ‘peer-to-peer’tags have their own power source and respond to the reader using theirown electromagnetic fields. Like RFID, NFC works in the 13.56 MHzradiofrequency spectrum using less than 15 mA of current to communicatedata over distances that are usually far less than 20 cm. In otherembodiments, other frequencies and current levels may be used.Similarly, FIG. 3C describes wireless charging, with a charge source 390providing current to antenna 365, which generates a correspondingcurrent in antenna 355. Wireless charging controller 382 manages thiscurrent to provide a charge to battery 380.

In various embodiments, a glasses case such as that shown in FIG. 3A isused with glasses to provide either NFC communications while the glassesare in the case, wireless charging of a battery within the glasses whilethe glasses are in the case, or both. Thus, in accordance withembodiments described herein, NFC communications may, for example, beused to download images or other data from a memory on glasses to amemory connected to a glasses case when the glasses are in the caseusing NFC enabled by an antenna around a lens space of the glasses and acorresponding antenna within a case for the glasses. The case is formed,in various embodiments, to match the shape of the glasses, such that thenear-field antenna of the glasses around the lens space is positionedclose to an antenna within or on a surface of the glasses case toprovide magnetic coupling as described above. Such coupling has thebenefit of not requiring exact contact like a physical contact forelectrical coupling, though better magnetic coupling does provideincreased efficiency. The magnetic coupling instead provides a simplercoupling when the glasses are within the case, as well as options forcommunicating or charging using any terminals sufficiently well matchedto the antenna of the glasses for magnetic coupling, which may be lesscomplex than the physical structures of different electrical connectors.

FIG. 3A illustrates a smart eyewear kit 300 including, for example, apair of smart glasses 310 and a container or holder such as a case 311.As detailed above, glasses 310 and case 311 include near-field antennasmatched to enable magnetic coupling for NFC, wireless charging, or both.As discussed with regard to previous embodiments, the glasses 310 cangenerally include a frame 312, temples 314A and 314B, and electronics(as illustrated and discussed in previous embodiments); the details ofeach will not be discussed in great detail as aspects of these itemshave been previously described. The case 311 and glasses 310 can includeelectrical connectors 320 in the example form of a base or internalconnector or port on the case 311 that enables power to be delivered tothe glasses 310 via then magnetic coupling, or data to be offloaded fromthe phone glasses 310 via the case 311.

As illustrated, the glasses 310, the case 311, and near-field antennasof the glasses 310 and case 311 as aligned for magnetic coupling caninteract together in various ways and for various purposes. For example,the antennas are configured for power and/or data communications, andcase 311 can be used to transport and protect the glasses 310, to chargeor provide power to the electronics (including the battery housed in thetemple 314A) incorporated in the glasses 310, and/or to communicate withthe electronics of the glasses 310 to a backup memory of case 311. Thus,in some embodiments, the case 311 can house a supplemental battery tothose of the glasses 310 and/or supplemental storage memory.

In some embodiments, electrical connections within the hinge connectframe 312 and the temples 314A and 314B such that they are connectedonly in a folded position.

FIGS. 4A and 4B then illustrate aspects of a conductive hinge that maybe used, in some embodiments, to connect a near-field antenna around alens area of a frame with electronic components in a temple portion ofeyewear. FIG. 4A is a top view of a right temple and half of a frame ofeyewear, along with a hinge joint for electronic coupling of the frameand the temple, in accordance with some embodiments. As described above,this may enable certain functionality, such as wireless charging, onlywhen the temples of the glasses are in a folded position. In otherembodiments, other connections may be used, or such hinge joints may beused along with electronic switches for enabling and disabling certaincircuit elements and controllers that enable NFC and/or wirelesscharging functionality. FIG. 4B is a corresponding top view of a righttemple and half of a frame of eyewear, along with a hinge joint forelectronic coupling of the frame and the temple, in accordance with someembodiments. In FIGS. 4A and 4B, the eyewear article includes aconductive coupling mechanism (e.g., an interface or port) that allowspower from a battery in the temple to be provided to the onboardelectronics in the frame when the temple is in a wearable configuration(e.g., FIG. 4A) and when the eyewear article is in a folded or collapsedconfiguration (e.g., FIG. 4B). Such configuration allows the onboardelectronics to be supplied with power in either the wearableconfiguration or folded configuration. This allows the eyewear articleto be operable even in the folded configuration such as to run softwareand perform other tasks that can improve efficiency and performance,thereby improving the user experience. This, for example, enables aconnection for wireless charging of a battery in a temple using anear-field antenna around a lens area in a frame when the temple isfolded. Using separately connected circuitry, this could also be used toisolate NFC circuitry that is enabled when the temple is in the openposition. In other embodiments, electronic switches are used to enableboth NFC and wireless charging in both the open and closed position ofthe temple hinge. In still further embodiments, different mechanisms areused to connect temple electronics with frame electronics (e.g., thenear-field antenna around a lens space).

According to further aspects, the conductive coupling mechanism of thetemple can be configured to interface with and receive charge from anexternal power source via a near-field antenna when the eyewear articleis in the folded or collapsed configuration. Such a coupling mechanismcan be used for recharging of the battery of the eyewear article, forexample.

The smart glasses may have a body comprising the lens-carrying framewith an antenna around at least one lens area, and a pair of the templeshingedly mounted on opposite ends of the frame. The smart glasses are,in such cases, in the wearable configuration or mode when at least oneof both temples is substantially fully unfolded for reception along aside of the user's head. In contrast, the smart glasses are in thefolded condition when at least one of the temples is hingedly foldedtowards the frame sufficiently to create the conductive couplingmechanism between a battery in the temple and onboard electronics in theframe. The folded condition thus can include both a fully foldedcondition in which one or both of the temples are hinged fully inwardlytowards the frame (e.g., FIG. 4B), and a partially folded condition.However, in some cases the partially folded condition can break theconductive coupling mechanism between the battery (or batteries) in thetemple(s) and the onboard electronics in the frame such as to power offor restart the electronics.

In some embodiments, the conductive coupling mechanism extends across(e.g., is located at) an articulated hinge joint where one of thetemples is hingedly connected to the frame. The conductive couplingmechanism may be located on several of the joint faces provided by theframe and the temple respectively, the joint faces being in face-to-faceabutment when in the wearable condition (see, e.g., faces 24A and 24B inFIG. 4A), and being in face-to-face abutment when in the foldedcondition (see, e.g., faces 26A and 26B in FIG. 4B). In otherembodiments, dual conductive coupling mechanisms may be implemented oneon each temple, with the conductive coupling mechanism on each temple.To facilitate the conductive coupling mechanism, the temple and theframe may carry cooperating features such as pins and pads configuredfor automatic contact and coupling when the smart glasses are in eitherthe wearing condition or the folded condition, to provide a conductivecoupling mechanism (and in some cases a data connection) betweenelectronics in the temple and electronics in the frame.

In some embodiments, electrical/electronic components may be carriedboth by the frame and at least one of the temples. In other embodiments,the battery will be carried by one or both of the temples whilesubstantially all other electrical/electronic components (see, e.g.,computer, sensors, camera, microphone, wireless module, and the like, ofFIG. 2) are carried only by the frame. This allows for a slimmer framethat can be more desirable for the user to wear and easier for the userto transport. In some such embodiments, an antenna around a lens areamay be electrically connected to batteries in both temple elements, andmay be used to charge both batteries. In such embodiments, a singlecontroller may be used to manage the charging, or separate controllersfor each battery or each temple may be used.

FIGS. 4A and 4B show an example embodiment of eyewear 31 comprisingsmart glasses from a position above the eyewear 31. As shown in theFIGS. 4A and 4B, the eyewear 31 includes a frame 32, a temple 47, ahinge joint assembly 16, and a conductive coupling mechanism 18. Theconductive coupling mechanism 18 allows power from a battery in thetemple 47 to be provided to the onboard electronics in the frame 32 whenthe temple 47 is in the wearable configuration (e.g., FIG. 4A) and whenthe eyewear 31 is in a folded or collapsed configuration (e.g., FIG.4B). It should be recognized that such arrangement can be reversed insome embodiments such that the battery can be carried by the frame 32and the onboard electronics can be carried by the temple 47. Suchconfigurations allow the onboard electronics to be supplied with powerin either the wearable configuration or folded configuration. Thisallows the eyewear 31 to be operable not only in the wearableconfiguration but also in the folded configuration such as to runsoftware and perform other tasks.

FIGS. 4A and 4B also illustrate that the hinge joint assembly 16 can beshared between the temple 47 and the frame 32 to couple the temple 47 tothe frame 32. The hinge joint assembly 16 can include a pin connection19 that can comprise a single pin or multiple pins with differentconnection points between the temple 47 and the frame 32. The hingejoint assembly 16 facilitates mechanical movement of the temple 47relative to the frame 32 about the pin connection 19. Such movement canbe between the wearable configuration/position of FIG. 4A and thecollapsed folded configuration/position of FIG. 4B.

According to the embodiment of FIGS. 4A and 4B, the conductive couplingmechanism 18 can be incorporated in the articulated hinge joint assembly16 and can be configured to electrically connect the battery with otheronboard electronics across the hinge joint assembly 16. As shown inFIGS. 4A and 4B, the conductive coupling mechanism 18 can include afirst connector 20A positioned on a first face 24A of frame 32 and asecond connector 22A positioned on a second face 26A of the frame 32. Atleast one of the first or second face 24A and/or 26A can comprise aportion of the hinge joint assembly 16 and/or can be disposed closelyadjacent the hinge joint assembly 16. The conductive coupling mechanism18 can also include a first connector 20B positioned on a first face 24Bor portion of the temple 47 and a second connector 22B positioned on asecond face 26B or portion of the temple 47. At least one of the firstor second face 24B and/or 26B can comprise a portion of the hinge jointassembly 16 and/or can be disposed closely adjacent the hinge jointassembly 16. First face 24A is configured to interface with first face24B when the temple 47 is in the wearable position. Similarly, secondface 26A is configured to interface with the second face 26B when thetemple 47 is in the folded position.

The conductive coupling mechanism 18 can be configured for automaticcontact and electrical coupling in both the wearable position (FIG. 4A)and the folded position (FIG. 4B). More particularly, the connectors 20Aand 20B are designed to interface with and electrically couple with oneanother such that they are complementary in design (e.g., one comprisesa pad and one a pin, etc.). Similarly, the connectors 22A and 22B aredesigned to interface with and electrically couple with one another suchthat they are complimentary in design. As shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, theconnectors 20A and 22A comprise contact pads, while the connectors 20Band 22B comprise contact pins. However, the arrangement can be reversedor another known connector, for example, a port, a link, a socket, aplug, a cord, a micro-USB, or the like can be utilized.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram 900 illustrating a software architecture 902,which can be installed on any one or more of the eyeglasses or anaccompanying host device (e.g., smartphone), glasses case, chargesource, or other system coupled to the eyeglasses. FIG. 5 is merely anon-limiting example of a software architecture 902, and it will beappreciated that many other architectures can be implemented tofacilitate the functionality described herein. In various embodiments,the software architecture 902 is implemented by hardware such as machine1100 of FIG. 6 that includes processors 1110, memory 1130, and I/Ocomponents 1150. In this example architecture, the software architecture902 can be conceptualized as a stack of layers where each layer mayprovide a particular functionality. For example, the softwarearchitecture 902 includes layers such as an operating system 904,libraries 906, frameworks 908, and applications 910. Operationally, theapplications 910 invoke application programming interface (API) calls912 through the software stack and receive messages 914 in response tothe API calls 912, consistent with some embodiments.

In various implementations, the operating system 904 manages hardwareresources and provides common services. The operating system 904includes, for example, a kernel 920, services 922, and drivers 924. Thekernel 920 acts as an abstraction layer between the hardware and theother software layers, consistent with some embodiments. For example,the kernel 920 provides memory management, processor management (e.g.,scheduling), component management, networking, and security settings,among other functionality. The services 922 can provide other commonservices for the other software layers. The drivers 924 are responsiblefor controlling or interfacing with the underlying hardware, accordingto some embodiments. For instance, the drivers 924 can include displaydrivers, camera drivers, BLUETOOTH® or BLUETOOTH® Low Energy drivers,flash memory drivers, serial communication drivers (e.g., UniversalSerial Bus (USB) drivers), WI-FI® drivers, audio drivers, powermanagement drivers, and so forth.

In some embodiments, the libraries 906 provide a low-level commoninfrastructure utilized by the applications 910. The libraries 906 caninclude system libraries 930 (e.g., C standard library) that can providefunctions such as memory allocation functions, string manipulationfunctions, mathematic functions, and the like. In addition, thelibraries 906 can include API libraries 932 such as media libraries(e.g., libraries to support presentation and manipulation of variousmedia formats such as Moving Picture Experts Group-4 (MPEG4), AdvancedVideo Coding (H.264 or AVC), Moving Picture Experts Group Layer-3 (MP3),Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), Adaptive Multi-Rate (AMR) audio codec,Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG or JPG), or Portable NetworkGraphics (PNG)), graphics libraries (e.g., an OpenGL framework used torender in two dimensions (2D) and three dimensions (3D) in a graphiccontent on a display), database libraries (e.g., SQLite to providevarious relational database functions), web libraries (e.g., WebKit toprovide web browsing functionality), and the like. The libraries 906 canalso include a wide variety of other libraries 934 to provide many otherAPIs to the applications 910.

The frameworks 908 provide a high-level common infrastructure that canbe utilized by the applications 910, according to some embodiments. Forexample, the frameworks 908 provide various graphic user interface (GUI)functions, high-level resource management, high-level location services,and so forth. The frameworks 908 can provide a broad spectrum of otherAPIs that can be utilized by the applications 910, some of which may bespecific to a particular operating system 904 or platform.

In an example embodiment, the applications 910 include a homeapplication 950, a contacts application 952, a browser application 954,a book reader application 956, a location application 958, a mediaapplication 960, a messaging application 962, a game application 964,and a broad assortment of other applications such as a third-partyapplication 966. According to some embodiments, the applications 910 areprograms that execute functions defined in the programs. Variousprogramming languages can be employed to create one or more of theapplications 910, structured in a variety of manners, such asobject-oriented programming languages (e.g., Objective-C, Java, or C++)or procedural programming languages (e.g., C or assembly language). In aspecific example, the third-party application 966 (e.g., an application910 developed using the ANDROID™ or IOS™ software development kit (SDK)by an entity other than the vendor of the particular platform) may bemobile software running on a mobile operating system such as IOS™,ANDROID™, WINDOWS® Phone, or another mobile operating system. In thisexample, the third-party application 966 can invoke the API calls 912provided by the operating system 904 to facilitate functionalitydescribed herein.

Some embodiments may particularly include a camera device application967. In certain embodiments, this may be a stand-alone application thatoperates to manage communications with a server system such as serversystem 120. In other embodiments, this functionality may be integratedwith another application such as a media application 960 or another suchapplication. Curation application 967 may manage collection of contentusing a camera device of machine 1100, communication with a serversystem via I/O components 1150, and receipt and storage of receivedmedia collections in memory 1130. Presentation of content and userinputs associated with content may be managed by curation application967 using different frameworks 908, library 906 elements, or operatingsystem 904 elements operating on a machine 1100.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating components of a machine 1100,according to some embodiments, able to read instructions from amachine-readable medium (e.g., a machine-readable storage medium) andperform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.Specifically, FIG. 6 shows a diagrammatic representation of the machine1100 in the example form of a computer system, within which instructions1116 (e.g., software, a program, an application 910, an applet, an app,or other executable code) for causing the machine 1100 to perform anyone or more of the methodologies discussed herein can be executed. Inalternative embodiments, the machine 1100 operates as a standalonedevice or can be coupled (e.g., networked) to other machines. In anetworked deployment, the machine 1100 may operate in the capacity of aserver or device in a server-client network environment, or as a peermachine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment. Themachine 1100 can comprise, but not be limited to, a server computer, aclient computer, a personal computer (PC), a tablet computer, a laptopcomputer, a netbook, a set-top box (STB), a personal digital assistant(PDA), an entertainment media system, a cellular telephone, a smartphone, a mobile device, a wearable device (e.g., a smart watch), a smarthome device (e.g., a smart appliance), other smart devices, a webappliance, a network router, a network switch, a network bridge, or anymachine capable of executing the instructions 1116, sequentially orotherwise, that specify actions to be taken by the machine 1100.Further, while only a single machine 1100 is illustrated, the term“machine” shall also be taken to include a collection of machines 1100that individually or jointly execute the instructions 1116 to performany one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.

In various embodiments, the machine 1100 comprises processors 1110,memory 1130, and I/O components 1150, which can be configured tocommunicate with each other via a bus 1102. In an example embodiment,the processors 1110 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a reducedinstruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction setcomputing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a digitalsignal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit(ASIC), a radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor,or any suitable combination thereof) include, for example, a processor1112 and a processor 1114 that may execute the instructions 1116. Theterm “processor” is intended to include multi-core processors 1110 thatmay comprise two or more independent processors 1112, 1114 (alsoreferred to as “cores”) that can execute instructions 1116contemporaneously. Although FIG. 6 shows multiple processors 1110, themachine 1100 may include a single processor 1110 with a single core, asingle processor 1110 with multiple cores (e.g., a multi-core processor1110), multiple processors 1112, 1114 with a single core, multipleprocessors 1112, 1114 with multiples cores, or any combination thereof.

The memory 1130 comprises a main memory 1132, a static memory 1134, anda storage unit 1136 accessible to the processors 1110 via the bus 1102,according to some embodiments. The storage unit 1136 can include amachine-readable medium 1138 on which are stored the instructions 1116embodying any one or more of the methodologies or functions describedherein. The instructions 1116 can also reside, completely or at leastpartially, within the main memory 1132, within the static memory 1134,within at least one of the processors 1110 (e.g., within the processor'scache memory), or any suitable combination thereof, during executionthereof by the machine 1100. Accordingly, in various embodiments, themain memory 1132, the static memory 1134, and the processors 1110 areconsidered machine-readable media 1138.

As used herein, the term “memory” refers to a machine-readable medium1138 able to store data temporarily or permanently and may be taken toinclude, but not be limited to, random-access memory (RAM), read-onlymemory (ROM), buffer memory, flash memory, and cache memory. While themachine-readable medium 1138 is shown, in an example embodiment, to be asingle medium, the term “machine-readable medium” should be taken toinclude a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized ordistributed database, or associated caches and servers) able to storethe instructions 1116. The term “machine-readable medium” shall also betaken to include any medium, or combination of multiple media, that iscapable of storing instructions (e.g., instructions 1116) for executionby a machine (e.g., machine 1100), such that the instructions 1116, whenexecuted by one or more processors of the machine 1100 (e.g., processors1110), cause the machine 1100 to perform any one or more of themethodologies described herein. Accordingly, a “machine-readable medium”refers to a single storage apparatus or device, as well as “cloud-based”storage systems or storage networks that include multiple storageapparatus or devices. The term “machine-readable medium” shallaccordingly be taken to include, but not be limited to, one or more datarepositories in the form of a solid-state memory (e.g., flash memory),an optical medium, a magnetic medium, other non-volatile memory (e.g.,erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM)), or any suitablecombination thereof. The term “machine-readable medium” specificallyexcludes non-statutory signals per se.

The I/O components 1150 include a wide variety of components to receiveinput, provide output, produce output, transmit information, exchangeinformation, capture measurements, and so on. In general, it will beappreciated that the I/O components 1150 can include many othercomponents that are not shown in FIG. 6. The I/O components 1150 aregrouped according to functionality merely for simplifying the followingdiscussion, and the grouping is in no way limiting. In various exampleembodiments, the I/O components 1150 include output components 1152 andinput components 1154. The output components 1152 include visualcomponents (e.g., a display such as a plasma display panel (PDP), alight emitting diode (LED) display, a liquid crystal display (LCD), aprojector, or a cathode ray tube (CRT)), acoustic components (e.g.,speakers), haptic components (e.g., a vibratory motor), other signalgenerators, and so forth. The input components 1154 include alphanumericinput components (e.g., a keyboard, a touch screen configured to receivealphanumeric input, a photo-optical keyboard, or other alphanumericinput components), point-based input components (e.g., a mouse, atouchpad, a trackball, a joystick, a motion sensor, or other pointinginstruments), tactile input components (e.g., a physical button, atouchscreen that provides location and force of touches or touchgestures, or other tactile input components), audio input components(e.g., a microphone), and the like.

In some further example embodiments, the I/O components 1150 includebiometric components 1156, motion components 1158, camera 1160environmental components, or position components 1162, among a widearray of other components. For example, the biometric components 1156include components to detect expressions (e.g., hand expressions, facialexpressions, vocal expressions, body gestures, or eye tracking), measurebiosignals (e.g., blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature,perspiration, or brain waves), identify a person (e.g., voiceidentification, retinal identification, facial identification,fingerprint identification, or electroencephalogram basedidentification), and the like. The motion components 1158 includeacceleration sensor components (e.g., accelerometer), gravitation sensorcomponents, rotation sensor components (e.g., gyroscope), and so forth.The environmental components include, for example, illumination sensorcomponents (e.g., photometer), temperature sensor components (e.g., oneor more thermometers that detect ambient temperature), humidity sensorcomponents, pressure sensor components (e.g., barometer), acousticsensor components (e.g., one or more microphones that detect backgroundnoise), proximity sensor components (e.g., infrared sensors that detectnearby objects), gas sensor components (e.g., machine olfactiondetection sensors, gas detection sensors to detect concentrations ofhazardous gases for safety or to measure pollutants in the atmosphere),or other components that may provide indications, measurements, orsignals corresponding to a surrounding physical environment. Cameracomponents include any information for image capture, such as saturationcontrol, pixel processing, sound capture, three dimensional imageprocessing, etc. The position components 1162 include location sensorcomponents (e.g., a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver component),altitude sensor components (e.g., altimeters or barometers that detectair pressure from which altitude may be derived), orientation sensorcomponents (e.g., magnetometers), and the like.

Communication can be implemented using a wide variety of technologies.The I/O components 1150 may include communication components 1164operable to couple the machine 1100 to a network 1180 or devices 1170via a coupling 1182 and a coupling 1172, respectively. For example, thecommunication components 1164 include a network interface component oranother suitable device to interface with the network 1180. In furtherexamples, communication components 1164 include wired communicationcomponents, wireless communication components, cellular communicationcomponents, near-field communication (NFC) components, BLUETOOTH®components (e.g., BLUETOOTH® Low Energy), WI-FI® components, and othercommunication components to provide communication via other modalities.The devices 1170 may be another machine 1100 or any of a wide variety ofperipheral devices (e.g., a peripheral device coupled via a UniversalSerial Bus (USB)).

Moreover, in some embodiments, the communication components 1164 detectidentifiers or include components operable to detect identifiers. Forexample, the communication components 1164 include radio frequencyidentification (RFID) tag reader components, NFC smart tag detectioncomponents, optical reader components (e.g., an optical sensor to detecta one-dimensional bar codes such as a Universal Product Code (UPC) barcode, multi-dimensional bar codes such as a Quick Response (QR) code,Aztec Code, Data Matrix, Dataglyph, MaxiCode, PDF417, Ultra Code,Uniform Commercial Code Reduced Space Symbology (UCC RSS)-2D bar codes,and other optical codes), acoustic detection components (e.g.,microphones to identify tagged audio signals), or any suitablecombination thereof. In addition, a variety of information can bederived via the communication components 1164, such as location viaInternet Protocol (IP) geo-location, location via WI-FI® signaltriangulation, location via detecting a BLUETOOTH® or NFC beacon signalthat may indicate a particular location, and so forth.

In various example embodiments, one or more portions of the network 1180can be an ad hoc network, an intranet, an extranet, a virtual privatenetwork (VPN), a local area network (LAN), a wireless LAN (WLAN), a widearea network (WAN), a wireless WAN (WWAN), a metropolitan area network(MAN), the Internet, a portion of the Internet, a portion of the publicswitched telephone network (PSTN), a plain old telephone service (POTS)network, a cellular telephone network, a wireless network, a WI-FI®network, another type of network, or a combination of two or more suchnetworks. For example, the network 1180 or a portion of the network 1180may include a wireless or cellular network, and the coupling 1180 may bea Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) connection, a Global System forMobile communications (GSM) connection, or another type of cellular orwireless coupling. In this example, the coupling 1182 can implement anyof a variety of types of data transfer technology, such as SingleCarrier Radio Transmission Technology (1×RTT), Evolution-Data Optimized(EVDO) technology, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) technology,Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) technology, thirdGeneration Partnership Project (3GPP) including 3G, fourth generationwireless (4G) networks, Universal Mobile Telecommunications System(UMTS), High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Worldwide Interoperability forMicrowave Access (WiMAX), Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard, othersdefined by various standard-setting organizations, other long rangeprotocols, or other data transfer technology.

In example embodiments, the instructions 1116 are transmitted orreceived over the network 1180 using a transmission medium via a networkinterface device (e.g., a network interface component included in thecommunication components 1164) and utilizing any one of a number ofwell-known transfer protocols (e.g., Hypertext Transfer Protocol(HTTP)). Similarly, in other example embodiments, the instructions 1116are transmitted or received using a transmission medium via the coupling1172 (e.g., a peer-to-peer coupling) to the devices 1170. The term“transmission medium” shall be taken to include any intangible mediumthat is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying the instructions 1116for execution by the machine 1100, and includes digital or analogcommunications signals or other intangible media to facilitatecommunication of such software.

Furthermore, the machine-readable medium 1138 is non-transitory (inother words, not having any transitory signals) in that it does notembody a propagating signal. However, labeling the machine-readablemedium 1138 “non-transitory” should not be construed to mean that themedium is incapable of movement; the medium 1138 should be considered asbeing transportable from one physical location to another. Additionally,since the machine-readable medium 1138 is tangible, the medium 1138 maybe considered to be a machine-readable device.

Throughout this specification, plural instances may implementcomponents, operations, or structures described as a single instance.Although individual operations of one or more methods are illustratedand described as separate operations, one or more of the individualoperations may be performed concurrently, and nothing requires that theoperations be performed in the order illustrated. Structures andfunctionality presented as separate components in example configurationsmay be implemented as a combined structure or component. Similarly,structures and functionality presented as a single component may beimplemented as separate components. These and other variations,modifications, additions, and improvements fall within the scope of thesubject matter herein.

Although an overview of the inventive subject matter has been describedwith reference to specific example embodiments, various modificationsand changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from thebroader scope of embodiments of the present disclosure. Such embodimentsof the inventive subject matter may be referred to herein, individuallyor collectively, by the term “invention” merely for convenience andwithout intending to voluntarily limit the scope of this application toany single disclosure or inventive concept if more than one is, in fact,disclosed.

The embodiments illustrated herein are described in sufficient detail toenable those skilled in the art to practice the teachings disclosed.Other embodiments may be used and derived therefrom, such thatstructural and logical substitutions and changes may be made withoutdeparting from the scope of this disclosure. The Detailed Description,therefore, is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope ofvarious embodiments is defined only by the appended claims, along withthe full range of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.

As used herein, the term “or” may be construed in either an inclusive orexclusive sense. Moreover, plural instances may be provided forresources, operations, or structures described herein as a singleinstance. Additionally, boundaries between various resources,operations, modules, engines, and data stores are somewhat arbitrary,and particular operations are illustrated in a context of specificillustrative configurations. Other allocations of functionality areenvisioned and may fall within a scope of various embodiments of thepresent disclosure. In general, structures and functionality presentedas separate resources in the example configurations may be implementedas a combined structure or resource. Similarly, structures andfunctionality presented as a single resource may be implemented asseparate resources. These and other variations, modifications,additions, and improvements fall within a scope of embodiments of thepresent disclosure as represented by the appended claims. Thespecification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in anillustrative rather than a restrictive sense.

What is claimed is:
 1. A wearable device, comprising: a frame configured to hold one or more optical elements; a temple connected to the frame at an articulated joint such that the temple is disposable between a collapsed condition and a wearable condition in which the wearable device is wearable by a user to hold the one or more optical elements within user view; onboard electronics components comprising: at least a pair of electronics components carried by the frame and the temple respectively, one or more processors, near field communication (NFC) match and controller circuitry coupled to the electrical switch and at least a first processor of the one or more processors, and wireless charging match and controller circuitry coupled to the electrical switch and at least a second processor of the one or more processors; an antenna coupled to a first portion of the frame, wherein the first portion of the frame is configured to hold a first optical element of the one or more optical elements in a lens area, and wherein the antenna is disposed around the lens area for inductive coupling; and an electrical switch in an electrical connection between the antenna and the onboard electronics components, wherein the electrical switch is configured to switch a connection with the antenna between the NFC match and controller circuitry and the wireless charging match and controller circuitry; wherein the temple further comprises a battery coupled to the electronics components carried by the temple; and a coupling mechanism that is incorporated in an articulated joint and that is configured to electrically connect the antenna across the articulated joint to the battery carried by the temple when the temple is in the collapsed condition, wherein the battery is configured to receive a charge from a charge source via inductive coupling with the antenna when the temple is in the collapsed position, and wherein the coupling mechanism is configured to isolate the antenna from the battery when the temple is in an open position.
 2. The wearable device of claim 1, wherein the onboard electronics components are configured to connect and disconnect the electrical connection between the antenna and the onboard electronics components using the electrical switch.
 3. The wearable device of claim 1, wherein the antenna is disposed on the frame in a spiral comprising at least two complete turns around the lens area.
 4. The wearable device of claim 1, wherein the antenna is disposed on the frame in an incomplete loop around the lens area.
 5. The wearable device of claim 1, further comprising: a coupling mechanism that is incorporated in an articulated joint and that is configured to electrically connect the antenna across the articulated joint to the electronics components carried by the temple when the temple is in the collapsed condition.
 6. The wearable device of claim 5, wherein the electronics components are configured to communicate payment data via the antenna.
 7. The wearable device of claim 1 further comprising a second coupling mechanism that is incorporated in the articulated joint and that is configured to electrically connect the antenna across the articulated joint to the NFC match and controller circuitry carried by the temple when the temple is in the open condition.
 8. The wearable device of claim 1, further comprising a second antenna coupled to a second portion of the frame, wherein the second portion of the frame is configured to hold a second optical element of the one or more optical elements in a second lens area, and wherein the second antenna is disposed around the second lens area for inductive coupling.
 9. The wearable device of claim 8, further comprising a second temple, and wherein the second temple carries a second battery, the second temple being connected to the frame by a second articulated joint, the wearable device further comprising a second coupling mechanism incorporated in the second articulated joint for electrically connecting the second battery across the second articulated joint to the second antenna.
 10. The wearable device of claim 1, wherein the onboard electronics components comprise one or more of a camera, a microphone, and a display device.
 11. A wearable device, comprising: a frame configured to hold one or more optical elements; onboard electronics components comprising: at least a pair of electronics components carried by the frame, one or more processors, near field communication (NFC) match and controller circuitry coupled to the electrical switch and at least a first processor of the one or more processors, and wireless charging match and controller circuitry coupled to the electrical switch and at least a second processor of the one or more processors; an antenna coupled to a first portion of the frame, wherein the first portion of the frame is configured to hold a first optical element of the one or more optical elements in a lens area, and wherein the antenna is disposed around the lens area for inductive coupling; and an electrical switch in an electrical connection between the antenna and the onboard electronics components, wherein the electrical switch is configured to switch a connection with the antenna between the NFC match and controller circuitry and the wireless charging match and controller circuitry; wherein the frame comprises a portion of a coupling mechanism as part of an articulated joint that is configured to electrically connect the antenna across the articulated joint and that is configured to electrically connect the antenna across the articulated joint to a battery when the articulated joint is in a collapsed condition, wherein the battery is configured to receive a charge from a charge source via inductive coupling with the antenna when the articulated joint is in the collapsed position, and wherein the coupling mechanism is configured to isolate the antenna from the battery when the articulated joint is in an open position.
 12. The wearable device of claim 11, further comprising: a temple connected to the frame at the articulated joint such that the temple is disposable between the collapsed condition and a wearable condition in which the wearable device is wearable by a user to hold the one or more optical elements within user view.
 13. The wearable device of claim 12, wherein the temple further comprises the battery coupled to the electronics components carried by the temple.
 14. The wearable device of claim 13, further comprising a second coupling mechanism that is incorporated in the articulated joint and that is configured to electrically connect the antenna across the articulated joint to the electronics components carried by the temple when the temple is in the open condition.
 15. A device comprising: an antenna; a frame comprising a first portion, wherein the first portion of the frame is configured to hold a first optical element of one or more optical elements in a lens area, and wherein the antenna is coupled to the frame and disposed around the lens area for inductive coupling; one or more processors; an electrical switch; near field communication (NFC) match and controller circuitry coupled to the electrical switch and at least a first processor of the one or more processors; and wireless charging match and controller circuitry coupled to the electrical switch and at least a second processor of the one or more processors, wherein the electrical switch is configured to switch a connection with the antenna between the NFC match and controller circuitry and the wireless charging match and controller circuitry; AND wherein the frame comprises a portion of a coupling mechanism as part of an articulated joint that is configured with the switch to electrically connect the antenna across the articulated joint and that is configured to electrically connect the antenna across the articulated joint to a battery when the articulated joint is in a collapsed condition, wherein the battery is configured to receive a charge from a charge source via inductive coupling with the antenna when the articulated joint is in the collapsed position, and wherein the coupling mechanism is configured to isolate the antenna from the battery when the articulated joint is in an open position.
 16. The device of claim 15, further comprising a memory coupled to the one or more processors, the memory comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the device to perform operations comprising: selecting; in response to a first input, a first switch position for the electrical switch attached to the frame; and receiving a charge from a charge source via inductive coupling with the antenna when the electrical switch is in the first switch position.
 17. The device of claim 16 further comprising: a diplexer coupled to the antenna and the NFC match and controller circuitry; and radio frequency communication circuitry coupled to the antenna and the diplexer and configured to generate radio frequency signals for transmission via the antenna; wherein the diplexer electrically separates the NFC match and controller circuitry and the radio frequency communication circuitry. 